6-Month MRI Results from Russia!

I have finally been back to Moscow to get my follow-up MRI done and to get the results. I will talk about the results in more detail in a future post. Here is the GoFundMe page update that I gave:

As you all know, I have PPMS (Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis), had stem cell treatment (HSCT) six months ago in Russia (Moscow), and have returned for my follow-up MRI scan. Which I had today, and met with the doctor on the same day to discuss the results.

Getting My MRI in Moscow

I am presently in Moscow, where I have just had my MRI to check whether the HSCT treatment has worked or not. Of course, I could have got to my MRI done in the UK. But, as some readers might recall, there was quite a significant difference between the MRI scanner in Winchester, back in the UK, and the one that they used prior to my treatment in Moscow. When I had my last MRI done in the UK, I think sometime in February, it registered three lesions on my brain and spinal cord. However, when I had my MRI scan prior to my treatment in March, in Moscow, they found eleven lesions. This seems to be because the machine in Moscow is a 3 Tesla machine whilst the one back at home was a 1.5T machine. Being twice the resolution in Moscow, the machine found more lesions on my brain and spinal cord. As a result, it would be rather silly of me not to get a like-for-like comparison by using the same machine to compare my before and after results.

Back Home: Tiredness, Discharge Notes, Urine Tests, Russian MRI

I continue my reflections about leaving the clinic in this video. But I start by wondering whether my hair would continue to fall out. From a position a week or so later from the recording of this video, I don't seem to have lost any more hair - I don't think.

Tiredness is something that has affected me, unsurprisingly, after returning home. I have been lucky enough to be able to email through my blood test requirements and GP appointment requirements to my GP's surgery and they have booked all the things I have needed, which is fab. Anywho, here is the video for you:

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The Pre-Tests

Once you settle down and you've sorted your room and belongings out, things start happening. The first few days of your treatment out in Russia will concern pretests. They've got a lot sharper on testing people who go out there to make sure that they don't have the risk factors that might cause problems for them during treatment. They would rather send people home who were high at risk for some complication than treat them with HSCT and take those risks.

I was given ECGs, x-rays, ultrasounds, blood tests and all sorts... Check out the video.

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